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Drysuit addiction


Scuba Diving on the Great Escape Southern California Live-Aboard Dive Boat


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Posted by Ross-O on December 20, 2005 at 10:45:07:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Bear Drysuits questions posted by Josh.C on December 20, 2005 at 09:38:03:

Josh,

Once you get somewhere between 20-50 dives in your drysuit you'll look for excuses to use it instead of the wetsuit. I still go wet for beach dive lobster trips. If I'm going to swim a half-mile I'll also consider going wet. Other than that, Dry reigns supreme.

It TOTALLY removes temperature from the equation. Wanna sit in 25ft for 2 hours taking pics or zoning out? Not a problem. Wanna do 3 dives on a day with 52F bottom and 52F topside temps? You'll be a little chilly but that's about it. Got 40 mins of deco? Bring it on. Going dry really took my enjoyment of CA diving to the next level.

They're expensive, they present more drag, and they're a royal pain-in-the-ass when they break down at an inopportune moment, but all things considered, they're a good investment for most hardcore SoCal divers.

PS - I don't care that some of you can dive naken in a snowstorm while sucking on an icecube and never get cold. You're the exception. Congratulations. I also don't care if your local water temps are 31F and your hobby is picking on SoCal warm water wussies. Congratulations again. Most normal people with functioning nerves get cold around here and a drysuit is the answer.

I wound up with the Diving Concepts Ultraflex Trilam suit. I like the material and workmanship on the suit but I will NEVER purchase from them again. Why? Because they have the worst customer service of any company I've ever done business with! They have a policy where they refuse to talk directly to the customer. They won't even tell you if they've received your suit from the dive shop or not. They will only talk to employees of the dive shops who sell their suits. I approached their CEO at the Scuba Show and asked him about his policy. He acted shocked and said that he had never heard any complaints. I told him, "BIG SURPRISE since your policy is not to talk to your customers!".

On the other hand, nearly all of my friends with DUI suits have had great experiences with their customer service. If I was doing it again and could find a BARE that fit me well, I would go for it. Barring that, I would go with a DUI suit.

Cheers,
Ross-O

Note to Diving Concepts if they're listening - like I said, I DO like your product and will happily take back what I said if you modify your customer service policy.



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